Strand handling apparatus



J. N. SELVIG 2,177,750

STRAND HANDLING APPARATUS Oct. 31, 1939.

Filed July 9. 1937 FIG.

INVENTOR J. N. SELV/G A TTORNEY Patented Oct. 31, 1939 UNITED STATES STRAND H NDLINGfArrAR T s John N. Selvig, Westfield, N. J assignorto -WesI;- ern Electric Company, Incorporated, New York, a N. Y., a corporation of New York Application July 9, 1937, Serial No; 152,693

12 Claims.

This invention relates to strand handling apparatus, and more particularly to means for tensioning a strand while being advanced longitudinally.

There is an almost countless variety of apparatus in which it is necessary or desirable to draw a strand from some supply thereof which allows the strand to be drawn off substantially without resistance, and then to impose upon the strand a definite, predetermined and adjustably invariable tension, ordinarily by passing the strand through some device or apparatus which presents an adjustably variable degree of. resistance to the passage of the strand. In the past, many such devices have been made to depend upon friction in one form or another, either directly on the strand itself or on a member, such as a sheave for example, driven by the strand. Devices dependent upon friction, while in many cases satisfactory for the immediate purpose in view, are notoriously difficult to keep in adjustment and properly regulated, perhaps because of wear due to the friction employed itself, perhaps due to changes in character of one or another friction member employed, e. g., changes deriving from varying absorption in or adsorption on the friction member ofmoisture under {varying meteorological conditions, or perhaps for other reasons.

An object of the present invention is to produce an apparatus ,or device for imposing tension upon a strand being drawn therethrough in which the resistance offered to the passage ofthe strand is substantially independent of any frictional eifect I whatsoever, whether exertedupon the strand itself or by means of other elenient'srelated to the strand. v

" With the above and other objects in view, one

embodiment of the invention may comprise a system of sheaves, rollers or the like, over which tion with the appended drawing in which the same reference numerals are applied to identical parts in the several figures and in which Fig, 1 is a perspective view of simple form of embodiment of the invention in a device for tensioning a single strand;

, Fig. 2 is a similar view of a slightly modified formofthe device of Fig. 1;

'Fig; 3 is aesimilarview p: a second modified form; K Fig. 4 is a perspective viewo'f athird modified formadapted to impose equal tension and equal longitudinal speed up on a plurality of strands;

Fig. 5 is a View in side {elevation of a fourth modified formjtohandle onev strand, and

Fig. 6 is aperspective view of a fifth modification.

Inthe preferred embodiment shown in Fig. 1, anyjconvenient member Ill is employed as the base or support of thefdevice. In the present instance,themember I0 may be thought of as an angle iron bar which is part of the framework of some apparatus for treating or handling a strandfII in some manner whose exact nature is not relevant here. There is presumed to be some means, not'shown, for propelling or drawing the strand II off to the right; and the strand is drawn gthrough the disclosed device from some supplyor source below, also not disclosed, which might well be merely a loose coil of the strand lying on the floor or other support, or might be a cop or spool or any other source from whichthe strand II may be drawn substantially without'resistance.

, The strand comes up from the source through a substantially resistanceless guide such as the pigtail, I2 mounted at I3 on the base I0, passes over the roller I4, under the roller I5, over the roller I6 and so out to the propelling means. The rollers I4 and I6 are preferably identically alike, each being mounted by means of an anti-friction bearing H or I9 on a stub] shaft 20 or 22 carried by the base Ill. The roller I5 is mounted by means ,of an anti-friction bearing I8 on a shaft 2'I carried by a spring arm 24 secured at 25 to the base member II]. The spring arm 24 is a convenient means to allowthe roller I5 to be drawn away slightly from the rollers I4 and it, as indicated in dotted lines, when a strand is to be threaded into place in the device.

The rollers I4, I5 and I6 have the same axial length, and each is formed with a peripheral groove or channel between peripheral flanges at the ends. These rollers may be of any convenient axial length, provided only that the space between the two flanges of each roller is enough wider-than the diameter of the strand II so that the latter rides clearly on the bottom of I4, I5 and I6 to rotate in the respective directhe groove or channel and does not have lateral and frictional contact with the flanges.

When the device is threaded with the strand I.I asshown in Fig. 1,'the roller I5 isheldup by the spring arm 24 or the tension of the strand II or both to have its flanges in direct peripheral contact with the flanges of the rollers and I6. The-rollers I4 and I6 are proportioned and mounted to be outof contact with each other.

As the strand II is drawn along in the direction of the straight arrows, it causes the rollers tions shown by the arcuate arrows on the rollers, the roller l rolling on its flanges on the flanges of the rollers 14 and [6 without slip. The diameters of the three sets of flanges and of the bottoms of the three grooves or channels, on which the strand lies, are so proportioned and related that, when the roller l5 rolls without slip on the rollers I4 and I 6 as described, the peripheral speeds of the grooved or channelled parts of the three rollers will be alike, so that the strand can run simultaneously over all three without having to slip on any.

When the device is constructed and arranged, and is operating in the manner described, there will beno frictional resistance to the advance of the strand of any magnitude which is not negligible in comparison to the resistance occasioned by the bending of the wire in its passage over the three rollers. In particular, if the roller [5 be of considerably less diameter where the'strand passes around it, the chief portion of the resistance developed by the entire device will be due to the bending of the strand around the roller 15.

Also, if the anti-friction bearing [8 of the roller l5 be mode easily removable from the shaft 2 I, then the roller l 5 and its bearing may be conveniently and easily interchanged for another roller of greater or smaller channel diameter and the tension imposed by the device upon a given strand may be quickly and easily changed as desired to a smaller or greater tension.

Fig. 2 shows a slightly modified form of the device of Fig. 1, in which the roller 15 rests on and is supported by the rollers l4 and It. This arrangement obviates the necessity of providing equivalents for the bearing l8, shaft 2| and arm 26, but has the possible disadvantage of leaving the roller [5 loose to be dropped and perhaps damaged when threading the apparatus or interchanging rollers I5."

Fig. 3 shows a second modification of the device of Fig. 1, in which the strand is drawn in the other direction and the roller M and its bearing and shaft are omitted; While this form operates satisfactorily in many instances, it does not always have the extreme steadiness of action of the two forms described above.

Fig. 4 discloses an application of the device of Fig. 2 in which several such devices are associated together to control a like number of parallel running strands. In this case each strand II, III or 2H hasits own independent rollers I4 and I5, H and H6, or 2M and 216 respectively, but the several principal rollers 15 are replaced by a single unitary roller, barrel or shaft I50. To enable this arrangement, the rollers I4, H4 and 244 must be coaxially located and likewise the rollers H5, H6 and 216. Where the member I50 is a plain cylinder as shown, the action will be triflingly imperfect as the peripheral speed of the cylinder I50 and of the channel bottoms in the other rollers will differ a little, so that the strands will slip a little on the cylinder. However, this may be overcome by cutting peripheral channels of suitable depthand width in the cylinder at the several places where the strands run over it. When thus arranged, the device not only imposes equal tension upon all the strands but also forces them to run at equal speeds.

In Fig. 5 is disclosed a modification of the device in which not only may the principal roller l5 be interchanged for others of other diameter as indicated by dotted circles, but also the length of the arc of contact on the roller i5 may be altered, e. g. by turning the screw 26 to bring the rollers M an I 6 closer together or further apart,

While in most cases the very simple arrangements shown will operate entirely satisfactorily as described; it may be desirable, especially if the strand ll be extremely fine, to drive the rollers l4, l5 and 16 by independent means instead of by the strand itself. In such a case, as disclosed in Fig. 6, the flanges of the three rollers l4, l5 and i6 might be provided with mutually intermeshing gear teeth, and one of the rollers, preferably perhaps roller [6, be driven by a suitably driven gear 21 applied thereto at a convenient point on its periphery. In such case the rollers would be driven so that their common peripheral speed at the bottoms of their channels would be that desired for the longitudinal speed of the strand.

The embodiment of the invention and its modification's, herein disclosed are merely illustrative and may be modified and departed from in many ways without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as pointed out in and limited only by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A device for imposing tension on a strand being drawn therethrough, which device consists solely so far as tensioning effect is concerned of a plurality of rollers over which the strand passes in a tortuous path, the rollers being driven to have peripheral speeds equal to each other and equal to the longitudinal speed of the strand, and the parts being so proportioned and arranged that substantially all of the resistance to the passage of the strand through the device is due to the bending only of the strand in passing over the rollers.

2. A device for imposing tension on a strand being drawn therethrough, which device consists solely so far as tensioning effect is concerned of a plurality of rollers over which the strand passes in a tortuous path, the rollers being driven by the strand to have peripheral speeds equal to each other and equal to the longitudinal speed of the strand, and the parts being so proportioned and arranged that substantially all of the resistance to the passage of the strand through the device is due to the bending only of the strand in passing over the rollers.

3. A device for imposing tension on a strand being drawn therethrough, which device consists solely so far as tensioning efiect is concerned of a plurality of rollers over which the strand passes in a tortuous path, the rollers being driven independently of the strand to have peripheral speeds equal to each other and equal to the longitudinal speed of the strand, and the parts being so proportioned and arranged that substantially all of the resistance to the passage of the strand through the device is due to the bending only of the strand in passing over the rollers.

4. A device for imposing adjustable tension on a strand being drawn therethrough, which device consists solely so far as tensioning eiiect is concerned of a plurality of rollers over which the strand passes in a tortuous path, the rollers being driven to have peripheral speeds equal to each other and equal to the longitudinal speed of the strand, the parts being so proportioned and arranged that substantially all of the resistance to the passage of the strand through the device is due to the bending only of the strand in passing over the rollers, and means to mount one of the rollers to be removable and thereby interchangeable to vary the tension imposed on the strand by varying the diameter of the interchangeable roller.

5. A device for imposing tension on a standbeing drawn therethrough, which device consists solely so far as tensioning effect is concerned of a plurality of rollers over which the strand passes in a tortuous path, each roller having a peripheral channel to receive the strand between peripheral flanges and which channel is wider than the strand to avoid friction between the strand and the flanges, the rollers being driven to have peripheral speeds in their channel bottoms equal to each other and equal to the longitudinal speed of the strand, and the parts being so proportioned and arranged that substantially all of the resistance to the passage of the strand through the device is due to the bending only of the strand in passing over the rollers.

6. A device for imposing adjustable tension on a strand being drawn therethrough, which device consists solely so far as tensioning effect is concerned of a plurality of rollers over which the strand passes in a tortuous path, each roller having a peripheral channel to receive the strand be tween peripheral flanges and which channel is Wider than the strand to avoid friction between the strand and the flanges, the rollers being driven to have peripheral speeds in their channel bottoms equal to each other and equal to the longitudinal speed of the strand, the parts being so proportioned and arranged that substantially all of the resistance to the passage of the strand through the device is due to the bending only.

being drawn therethrough, which device comprises a plurality of rollers over which the strand passes in a tortuous path, each roller having a peripheral channel to receive the strand between peripheral flanges and which channel is wider than the strand to avoid friction between the strand and the flanges, the rollers being arranged in a sequence with the flange peripheries of each in contact with the rolling without sliding friction on the flange peripheries of the next, the rollers having their channel diameters proportioned and being driven to have peripheral speeds in their channel bottoms equal to each other and equal to the longitudinal speed of the strand, and the parts being so proportioned and arranged that substantially all of the resistance to the passage of the strand through the device is due to the bending only of the strand in passing over the rollers.

8. A device for imposing tension on a strand being drawn therethrough, which device comprises a plurality of rollers over which the strand passes in a tortuous path, each roller having a peripheral channel to receive the strand between peripheral flanges and which channel is wider than the strand to avoid friction between the strand and the flanges, the rollers being arranged in a sequence with the flange peripheries of each in contact with and rolling without sliding friction on the flange peripheries of the next, the rollers having their channel diameters proportioned and being driven by the strand passing thereover to have peripheral speeds in their channel bottoms equal to each other and equal to the longitudinal speed of the strand, and the parts being so proportioned and arranged that substantially all of the resistance to the passage of the strand through the device is due to the bending only of the strand in passing over the rollers.

9. A device forimposing tension on a strand being drawn therethrough, which device comprises a plurality of rollers over which the strand passes in a tortuous path, each roller having a peripheral channel to receive the strand between peripheral flanges and which channel is wider than the strand to avoid friction between the strand and the flanges, the rollers being arranged in a sequence with the flange peripheries of each in contact with and rolling without sliding friction on the flange peripheries of the next, the rollers having their channel diameters proportioned and being driven by the strand passing thereover to have peripheral speeds in their channel bottoms equal to each other and equal to the longitudinal speed of the strand, the parts being so proportioned and arranged that substantially all of the resistance to the passage of the strand through the device is due to the bending only of the strand in passing over the rollers, and one of the rollers being interchangeable to vary the tension imposed on the strand by varying the diameter of the interchangeable roller.

10. A device for imposing tension on a strand being drawn therethrough, which device comprises a plurality of rollers over which the strand passes in a tortuous path, each roller having a peripheral channel to receive the strand between toothed peripheral flanges and which channel is wider than the strand to avoid friction between the strand and the flanges, the rollers being arranged in a sequence with the toothed flange peripheries of each in mesh with those of the next, the rollers having their channel diameters proportioned and being. driven independently of the strand to have peripheral speeds in their channel bottoms equal to each other and equal to the longitudinal speed of the strand, and the parts being so proportioned and arranged that substantially all of the resistance to thepassage of the strand through the device is due to the bending only of the strand in passing over the rollers.

11. A device for imposing tension on a strand being drawn therethrough, a plurality of freely and substantially frictionlessly rotatable rollers each having a peripheral channel to receive the strand between peripheral flanges and which channel is wider than the strand, the rollers being arranged in a sequence relatively to each other so that the peripheries of the flanges of each roller are in contact with and roll on the peripheries of the flanges of the next roller, and the flange diameter and the channel bottom diameter of each roller being in such ratio that when any two rollers have equal tangential speeds at the peripheries of their flanges, they will also have equal tangential speeds at their channel bottoms.

12. In a device for imposing tension on Y a strand being drawn therethrough, a pair of rollers over which the strand may pass, each roller having a flange portion of one diameter and a reduced portion of smaller diameter, the ratio of the two diameters of each roller to each other being equal to the same ratio of the two diameters JOHN N. SELVIG. 

